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Death Bringer CR 2
DEATH BRINGER CR 2 Age: Ageless. Type: Humanoid. Size: Medium. Aliases: Hawkmoth Alignment: Mostly Neutral. Rarely, but sometimes Evil. Allies: Time, Order, Death gods, Princes of Elemental Evil Enemies: Chaotic entities, Corruption entities. Home Plane: Acherontia Atropos, Hawkmoth’s Hive. Abilities: All death effects, clock viewing, nightmare magic, insanity effects. Immunities: First One Immunities, death effects, soul magic, elemental magic, necromancy, acid, electricity, fire, void, aging effects, sleep effects, mind altering effects, purple worm poison, umbral poison, death blossom, noxious gas, energy drain, intimidation effects, fear effects, insanity, holy, unholy. Racial Bonuses: +8 Natural Armor, Darkvision 60ft., +4 Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive, and Stealth. Ability Scores: Int +8, Cha +8. Death Bringers do not have a Constitution score. Anything Con based is based off of Charisma. Bonus Feats: Vital Strike, Quiet Death, Death Blow, and Improved Initiative. LEGEND Death is the reason that all life comes to an inevitable end. It is a natural and an important part of existence. It’s always been a part of the cosmos, however Death in itself does not keep natural order in check. A Death Bringer, often symbolized by the Death Head Hawk Moth and a sleek black suit, is an eternal being created by the Fates to make sure that the fundamental forces of life and death remained unchanged. That the natural order of a being’s life clock is left unaltered from start to finish, so that no being lives longer than they’re meant to or their life isn’t cut short by intervention of a cosmic being. The first Death Bringer was created during a dark age of cosmic intervention and chaos, stepping foot on tainted soil to set the world back into balance. Hawkmoth’s Hive has since flourished, yet only allowing three Death Bringers at a time to walk the Earth and keep the natural order of death in the world. BIRTH, DEATH, AND REBIRTH The demise of a Death Bringer is not only unnatural, but notoriously difficult. Because of this, Death Bringers are known for outliving any and all races, watching the risings and downfalls of entire civilizations. However, time doesn’t go by differently for them, regardless of their ageless nature. Often birthed from the hive in mid ages. (25-30) A Death Bringer can range from ages as young as seven or as old as eighty. They feel no consequences for their age and act as their older/younger counterparts in means of behavior and work ethic. Birthed from a tormented soul or the soul of a being that has had their clock stopped by cosmic intervention, a Death Bringer is in a cocoon for five to seven years before being birthed. They retain the memories and knowledge of the soul they’ve been created from and are often considered to be savants, beings of vast knowledge and age old talents. A Death Bringer can harness an infinite number of souls, one per rebirth. Upon the time of their death, they return to the cocoon to rebirth in the set number of years. For a Death Bringer to truly die their home plane must be destroyed by the Fates. Otherwise, a Death Bringer will never actually die. They’ll go through the long process of a rebirth and return to the material plane to keep order. To ‘kill’ an individual Death Bringer, the being must be destroyed entirely, meaning the there are no remains of the being. The remains of the Death Bringer are as follows: ashes, skin, dead skin flakes, blood, the hawkmoth, hawkmoth larva, hawkmoth dust, bones, cartilage, fingernails/toenails, saliva, urine, other bodily fluids, personal affects of the being or items of beings close to them that the Death Bringer has had physical contact with. (Remaining DNA, i.e. fingerprints) A Death Bringer reforms from its remains in 1d4 rounds. THE OOPSY Once you’ve gone through the pain staking process of ensuring that a ‘dead’ Death Bringer will indeed stay dead instead of rising from their remains, their souls will return to Hawkmoth’s Hive to rebirth in five to seven years. Unfortunately for you, the Death Bringer will retain all of the knowledge and memories of their life that has come to a sudden ‘end’. This is where the rare few evil Death Bringers spring into existence, rebirthing from anger and turmoil. Beings of firm belief in reaping what you sow, previously murdered Death Bringers are known for seeking out their destroyers with proper patience and planning. Now you’re on the run, but lucky for you there are steps you can take to avoid being caught by a vengeful Death Bringer. For the small price of one million gold, your local Witch Doctor can clear up your bad juju! You’ll be sprinkled with a mystical liquid, that coincidentally smells kind of like urine, and all of your troubles will be gone! Now you can go on to live a normal life, never again having to worry about that pesky Death Bringer that just wants to pop up and ruin your day. (murder your family) But what’s this? Sudden night terrors and paranoia? Never mind the constant night sweats and bad dreams, your neighbor is trying to poison your cattle and steal your chickens! Are you just going to take that? That disrespect? The audacity of that man! He’s just jealous of you and your property! You’ll show him, won’t you? You’ll teach him what happens when someone threatens your well being, won’t you? If only you could focus enough to properly plan out just what kind of punishment that man deserves. Now you’re staying up all hours of the night. Wait, what’s that sound? You don’t have a cat, let alone one that’s so deformed and agonizing. Oops, you fell asleep again. Better go take a dip in the tub to wake yourself up, give yourself a good rinse from all of the sweat. You can’t take a bath, silly. Your neighbor’s already tainted your water. You can’t drink it, so how safe is it to bathe in really? It’s okay though, you’ll just have a nice seat by the fire and warm up a bit. You can just sit back and relax, forget about all of your worries and the eerie whispers coming from your bedroom. Someone’s in there. You know that, right? You’ve been being watched the entire time. They’re laughing at you, the whole town. You’re the joke of the community, but no one has to know. No one has to know what you’ve done. They’re only sleeping, a peaceful slumber. You couldn’t trust them, could you? Family’s a liability, a chip waiting to be placed against you. You couldn’t let that happen. They deserved it for plotting against you. Don’t feel bad, they didn’t feel a thing. It isn’t just another thing that’s weighing down your conscience, right? They had it coming. Sure, keep telling yourself that. Now you’re alone, except for that twig snapping off in the distance, the creaks in the floorboards. You’re never really alone. He was always there watching you, waiting for you. He never left your side, like any true friend. He’s the only one that you can trust. He knows what’s best for you, best for your family. Never mind that twisted smile, he’s here to help you. Just close your eyes and feel the warmth of the fire as it heats up the space around you. Ignore the smell of burning hair, ignore the blistering pain, ignore the cries, ignore the world around you as it’s engulfed. You’re only sleeping. SEALING THE ACHERONTIA ATROPOS So, you’re an angry god and want those pesky Death Bringers gone for good? Well, I’ve got a solution for you! This is a three step instruction on how to close off Hawkmoth’s Hive and keep it that way. Take notes! # Talk to the Fates, given they’re the ones that created the Acherontia Atropos plane in the first place! Surely they’ll know how to keep those moths in check. # Get a little angry when the Fates don’t comply. A little nudge here, some criticism there. It’ll work this time for sure! # Rinse and repeat. I’m sure by now you’ve realized that even though the Fates are the ones that created the Acherontia Atropos plane, even they don’t have the power to cut it off from the Material plane. To ensure balance between the plane and the cosmos, the Fates made it so no being of any power could truly close off the plane. Many have tried and many have failed, just as they’re doomed to fail again and again with each new approach to the situation. I know it’s unfortunate, you only wanted to dabble in the clocks a little bit. Maybe this guy doesn’t need to live so long, right? Come on, the kid’s only three years old! It isn’t her fault that her mother is an anti-vacciner. What’s balance without a little chaos anyways? Surely there can’t be any real harm in messing with the natural order of things, right? I’m only a god, what do I know? I’m just trying to help out. Regardless of the reasoning, the Death Bringers are here to stay. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon, trust me on that. If you think this is bad, just wait until I try to explain how to destroy the plane. What? You thought destroying a Death Bringer was hard? That’s nothing compared to the Acherontia Atropos plane. One pissed Death Bringer is hard enough to deal with. I don’t want to think about a few million. DESTROYING THE ACHERONTIA ATROPOS Either you’ve got a really good sense of humor or you’re actually trying to do this. Oh... Oooohhhhh...... You’re actually trying to do this? Okay, let’s get down to business then. First thing’s first, destroying an entire plane takes a massive amount of energy that some gods aren’t even capable of doing. You better be getting a titan to back you up, otherwise stop while you’re ahead and get working on that apology tweet. Second, the Acherontia Atropos is practically untouchable even by the Fates. They choose to stay out of most conflicts, unless it’s going to be a world ending event. Get ready for the Fates to come up in here and give you the mom look, because this is going to be a world ending event. Third, get the biggest, baddest titan to drop a bomb of owies on the Acherontia Atropos plane. Not just anywhere in the plane, but the hive. In the center of the plane is a cocoon the size of grandma’s casserole (f***ing huge) That’s your main focus, try to get ride of that. Death Bringers are notorious for being immune to nearly everything, keep that in mind. Lastly, this isn’t going to work. I’m telling you this now. It’s. Not. Going. To. Work. The moment that titan oversteps their boundaries and enters that plane the Fates are going to be waiting for them. It’s going to turn into bad news bears really quickly. There are things that you just don’t mess with. This is definitely one of them. Sorry for the luck, I’ll be waiting on that apology tweet. RACE SPECIFIC CLASS: Nightmare Bringer The Death Bringer may have duties to fulfill, but there are those that somewhat deviate from the traditional path. When these foe strike, they do so with precision and deadly focus. Bringing a certain fear behind the the title of Death Bringer, these hellish killers often go unnoticed by their victims. Role: Nightmare Bringer’s live both among mortals and apart from them, just similar enough to mortals to seem somewhat off. Nightmare Bringer’s do their best to adjust to life in the community —usually a human one— where they choose to live. However, a Nightmare Bringer can often find himself joining with bands of adventurers. Alignment: Evil, sometimes neutral. Hit Die: 8. To qualify to become a Nightmare Bringer, a character must fulfill all of the following: * Death Bringer race. * Disguise 5 ranks. * Stealth 5 ranks. * Bluff 5 ranks. Class Skills: The Nightmare Bringer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha). Skill Ranks at Each Level: 8 + Int modifier. Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1st +0 +0 +2 +0 Hive armor, sneak attack +1d6 2nd +1 +0 +3 +0 Night terror +1 3rd +2 +1 +3 +1 Hawkmoth aid, sneak attack +2d6 4th +3 +1 +4 +1 Night terror +2 5th +3 +1 +4 +1 Personal immunity, sneak attack +3d6 6th +4 +2 +5 +2 Night terror +3 7th +5 +2 +5 +2 Sixth sense, sneak attack +4d6 8th +6/+1 +2 +6 +2 Night terror +4 9th +6/+1 +3 +6 +3 Personal immunity, sneak attack +5d6 10th +7/+2 +3 +7 +3 True terror 11th +8/+3 +3 +7 +3 Insanity +1, sneak attack +6d6 12th +9/+4 +4 +8 +4 Evasion 13th +9/+4 +4 +8 +4 Insanity +2, sneak attack +7d6 14th +10/+5 +4 +9 +4 Personal immunity 15th +11/+6/+1 +5 +9 +5 Insanity +3, sneak attack +8d6 16th +12/+7/+2 +5 +10 +5 Frightful presence 17th +12/+7/+2 +5 +10 +5 Insanity +4, sneak attack +9d6 18th +13/+8/+3 +6 +11 +6 Dampen Presence 19th +14/+9/+4 +6 +11 +6 True insanity, sneak attack +10d6 20th +15/+10/+5 +6 +12 +6 Living Nightmare Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Nightmare Bringer is proficient in all simple weapons, all light weapons, repeating crossbows (light only), shuriken, spiked chains, and whips. The Nightmare Bringer is not proficient with any type of physical armor or shield. Hive Armor As a swift action, a Nightmare Bringer can call upon the Hive of his home plan, creating a tangible mist of darkness and Hawkmoth dust. This provides a +4 AC bonus and lasts for 1d6 rounds. Incorporeal creatures cannot bypass Hive Armor the way they do normal armor. Night Terror The target of this ability gains no benefit from any type of sleep, writhing in a series of nightmares that torture its psyche and diminish its ability to perform strenuous tasks. The target doesn’t heal ability or hit point damage naturally and can’t prepare spells or regain spell slots while experiencing night terrors. After one night of poor sleep, the target is fatigued, or exhausted if it was fatigued before trying to rest. A creature affected by this doesn’t recover from the fatigued or exhausted condition, nor do spells such as lesser restoration provide any relief. Each restless night, the target takes 1d6 points of Wisdom damage, which can’t be recovered by magic while night terrors is active. The images from previous nightmares continue to haunt the target’s mind while awake. If the target has rested at least once while affected by night terrors and then becomes subjected to a fear condition, the target experiences the next higher level of fear than it would normally. However, this ability cannot cause a lesser state of fear to become a greater one. If the effect causing the fear condition doesn’t usually stack with other fear effects, the target’s level of fear does not increase. This aspect of the ability is a fear effect. The affected creature can attempt a new saving throw once per day to end night terrors. Multiple attempts to rest in a given day do not grant the target multiple saves. A creature that successfully saves against night terrors ends the spell and rests normally that night, but gains the benefits of only that night’s rest. There are no benefits gained from the rest of previous nights that were effected by night terrors. The DC save is Cha based: Cha Mod + 10 + Lvl, +4 circumstance bonus on previously known or inflicted targets. If your campaign uses the sanity rules, the target takes 1d8 points of sanity damage instead of Wisdom damage. Hawkmoth Aid Once per day the Nightmare Bringer can call upon the Hive of the Hawkmoth’s plane, requesting aid from more than just the moths that he holds within himself. The moths swarm around the Nightmare Bringer like locusts, destroying anything and everything in his path. Once the Nightmare Bringer is happy with the quick work of their enemies, the moths return back to their Hive. The souls of any living creatures that were swarmed are taken back to the plane with the moths, being cocooned to be birthed in five to seven years. Creatures with 100hp or less die instantly. Creatures with evasion take half damage. Creatures without evasion take full damage. 100 base damage, 10d8 additional damage. Personal Immunity The Nightmare Bringer naturally has all of the immunities of the Death Bringer race, regardless of the abandonment of their nature. Personal Immunity allows the Nightmare Bringer to gain a number of temporary immunities along with their nature immunities. This ability can be used a limitless number of times per day, but does not stack. If the Nightmare Bringer is using Personal Immunity to fend off compulsion effects, they cannot also use the ability to fend off other effects from another enemy. Sixth Sense The Nightmare Bringer has an uncanny sense for detection. When a creature comes within 60ft the Nightmare makes a perception check (DC 25) to notice any prying eyes that happen to be watching him, sensing their presence. This doesn’t require any concentration, nor does it give the creatures exact location. True Terror The Nightmare Bringer brutally forces the target’s consciousness into a dimension of nightmares and terror. This unnatural dislocation opens conduits of pain for the target, causing the target’s body to fall prone and helpless as the target mindlessly screams unless it makes a successful Will save. If the target failed its Will save, once the initial effect ends, the memory of the awful pain remains, making the target susceptible to other mental assault, imposing a –4 penalty on Will saves against mind-affecting effects for a period of one day. This penalty does not stack from multiple uses in one day. DC Cha Mod + 10 + Lvl, +8 circumstance bonus on previously known or inflicted targets. Insanity The affected creature suffers from a state of delirium for 1d6 rounds. DC Will save Cha Mod + 10 + Lvl, +4 circumstance bonus on previously known or inflicted targets. Targets that have previously failed their will save against the Nightmare Bringer takes a -4 penalty and takes on the cowering condition within 30ft. The creature is frozen in fear and can take no actions. A cowering creature takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class and loses his Dexterity bonus. (if any) Evasion The Nightmare Bringer gains Evasion without the necessary prerequisites or multi-classing. Frightful Presence The Nightmare Bringer’s very presence is unsettling to his foes. Activating this ability is a free action. Opponents within range who witness the action may become frightened or shaken. Range is 30ft for 5d6 rounds. This ability affects opponents with fewer hit dice or levels than the Nightmare Bringer. A creature can resist with a successful Will save. DC Will save Cha Mod + 10 + Lvl, +4 circumstance bonus on previously known or inflicted targets. A creature that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to that same Nightmare Bringer’s frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failed save, the opponent is shaken, or panicked if 4 HD or fewer Dampen Presence The Nightmare Bringer gains Dampen Presence without the necessary prerequisites. Your habitual stillness makes you difficult to perceive for creatures that use blindsight or blindsense. True Insanity Any one being knowing too much is enough to drive them into complete and utter madness with no help of escaping their own mind. The Nightmare Bringer inflicts this cruel and unfortunate happening on his victims by showing the target the events of their death, as well as the deaths of those the target is close to. A will save negates the insanity effect, however the creature will remain shaken for 1d6 and take 10d12 Wis damage. DC Will save Cha Mod + 10 + Lvl, +8 circumstance bonus on previously known targets. Living Nightmare The Nightmare Bringer creates an image of the most fearsome creature imaginable to the target by forming the fears of the target’s subconscious mind into something that its conscious mind can visualize. Only the target can see what the Nightmare Bringer has created from their deepest and darkest fears. The target first gets a will save to recognize the image as unreal. If that save fails, the phantasm touches the subject, and the subject must succeed on a fortitude save or die from fear. Even if the Fortitude save is successful, the subject takes 10d12 points of damage. DC save Cha Mod + 10 + Lvl, +8 circumstance bonus on previously known targets.